低薪与过劳：谷歌合同工光鲜外表背后的尴尬

Underpaid and overworked: Behind the scenes with Google’s data center contractors

December 02, 2021

By Sebastian Moss

译 者 说

本文和深知社大多数技术文章不同，更像是一篇第三人称的纪实访谈文学作品，这里没有MW、平米、冷却、配电、并购、部署等术语，只有LEE，Wait，这些围绕在谷歌数据中心周围工作和生活的一张张鲜活的面孔。也许您没有耐心读完这篇长文，但它的确给我们展现了美国数据中心职场最真实的一面。

承包商和谷歌员工公开反对破碎的文化

Contractors and Google employees speak out against a broken culture

在Google数据中心，这又是漫长的一天，Shannon Wait 很累。那是十二月下旬，但距离过节的喜庆气氛尚远。

It had been another long day in the Google data center, and Shannon Wait was tired. It was late December, but the mood was far from festive.

有人在哭。这不是第一次了。“我问我的朋友怎么了，她说她的合同定于 1 月 1 日到期，”Wait 告诉 DCD。“她没有听到任何关于合同延期的消息，所以她没有在圣诞节给她的三个孩子买礼物。听她这样说，让我很难过。

Someone was crying. It wasn’t the first time. "I asked my friend what was wrong, and she said that her contract was set to expire on January 1st,” Wait told DCD. “She hadn’t heard anything about an extension, so she didn’t buy her three kids any Christmas presents. Just hearing her say that broke my heart.

“这发生在谷歌？ 这有什么必要？”

“This is happening at Google? How is this necessary?"

谷歌的数据中心配备了越来越多的临时工、合同工和承包商 (TVC)，他们中的许多人与谷歌员工一起从事相同的工作。 但他们的报酬要少得多，合同期很短，基本福利也被剥夺了。

Google’s data centers are staffed by growing numbers of temps, vendors, and contractors (TVCs), many of whom do the same work as the Googlers employed alongside them. But they are paid far less, kept on short contracts, and stripped of basic benefits.

在过去的六个月里，我们与多名现任和前任 TVC、谷歌员工和劳工权利研究人员就运营互联网的“隐形”工人们进行了交谈。下面就是他们的故事。

Over the past six months, we spoke to multiple current and former TVCs, Google employees, and labor rights researchers about the hidden workers that run the Internet. This is their story.

我们给了谷歌几个星期的时间来回答一系列详细的问题。在最初承诺要公开回复后，该公司主动提供了背景评论，这些评论似乎与我们了解到的数据中心状况不符。IT 外包公司 莫迪斯则没有回复置评请求。

We gave Google several weeks to respond to a list of detailed questions. After initially promising an on-the-record reply, the company offered unsolicited on-background commentary that did not appear to match the reality of what we learned about conditions at its data centers. IT outsourcing firm Modis did not reply to requests for comment.

Wait从未被谷歌正式聘用，尽管两年来，她每天都在该公司位于南卡罗来纳州蒙克斯角的数据中心工作。“当我第一次接到招聘人员关于这份工作的电话时，我的印象是我会得到一份谷歌的工作——而且我不是第一个这么说的人。但当我拿到入职文件时 ，很明显我是在为承包商而不是谷歌工作，”她说。

Wait was never officially employed by Google, despite working at the company’s data center in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, every day for two years. "When I first got a call about the job from the recruiter, I was under the impression that I would be getting a Google job - and I'm not the first person to say that. But by the time I got the paperwork for onboarding, it was pretty clear that I was working for a contractor and not Google," she said.

Wait受雇于莫迪斯，后者是承包巨头Adecco的一部分。不过，她并没有太担心：虽然就职于一个承包商，但毕竟她要去谷歌的数据中心工作。 “这似乎是一家信誉良好、善待员工的公司，”她回忆道。

Wait was employed by Modis, part of contracting giant Adecco. Still, she wasn't too perturbed: sure, it was through a contractor, but after all she was going to work at a Google site. "It seemed like a reputable company that treats its workers well,” she recalled.

“但是作为一名 TVC 和一名全职员工 (FTE) 之间的差距就像白天和黑夜一样，你很快就会明白这一点。这让你觉得自己像个被抛弃的人。“当你意识到你做的肮脏或无聊的工作比谷歌员工实际上要多两倍时，情况只会变得更糟，他们的薪水是你的两倍，并且有更多的自由来偷懒或做个人项目，当我们回到数据中心，在高温工作条件下，在没有服务器升降推车的情况下提起笨重的机器，因为大多数推车都坏了，或者不能用。” 她补充说：“我的肩膀韧带一定是撕裂了，因为我提的东西太重了，但我没有去看医生，因为我没有医疗保险。”

"But the disparity between being a TVC and being a full-time employee (FTE) was like night and day, and you pick up on that very quickly. It makes you feel like an outcast. “And it only gets worse when you realize that you're actually doing more of the dirty work, or the scut work, than the actual Google employees who get paid twice as much as you and have more freedom to slack off or to do personal projects, while we're back at the data center, in hot working conditions, lifting heavy machines without lifts, because most of the lifts are broken, or not available".She added: “I must have torn a ligament in my shoulder because I was lifting something so heavy, but I didn't go see a doctor about it because I don't have health insurance.

“这只是我们不断训练新 TVC 的死循环。这没有任何意义。”

"It's just a constant cycle of having new TVCs we need to train. It doesn't make sense."

每个 TVC 和谷歌员工都对 DCD 证实了这种差异。一位因害怕遭到报复而不愿透露姓名的谷歌员工表示，这种差异非常明显。 “出勤政策不同，工作期望肯定有很大不同。 我和很多谷歌 FTE 一起工作，他们大部分时间什么都不做，这对管理层来说是可以接受的。但是，如果 TVC 在一天内不能处理完很多项工作的话，就会有人找你谈话。”

This disparity was confirmed by every TVC and Google employee DCD spoke to. One Google employee, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said that the difference was stark. “Attendance policies are different, the work expectations are definitely quite different. I work with plenty of Google FTEs who do nothing most of the day, and that's acceptable for them. But TVCs would have a talking-to if they didn't close X number of cases in a day."

尽管如此，TVC 的报酬却更低。在美国，他们通常每小时能挣15 美元，公司支付给 TVC报酬少于从事相同工作的 FTE 是完全合法的（除非通过了 HR 7638 等立法；2020 年恢复工人权力法案）。在某些国家，这是违法的。在其中的 16 个国家/地区，谷歌为数千名员工少付了至少 1 亿美元。《纽约时报》和《卫报》的报道表明，多年来，谷歌知道自己一直在违法，但由于担心受到负面报道，所以选择袖手旁观。

For all this, TVCs are paid less. In the US, where they usually get $15 an hour, it is perfectly legal for companies to pay TVCs less than FTEs doing the same work (unless legislation like HR 7638; Restoring Worker Power Act of 2020 is passed). In some countries, this is against the law. In 16 of those countries, Google underpaid thousands of workers by at least $100 million. Reporting by The New York Times and The Guardian found that Google knew it was breaking the law for several years, but opted not to do anything for fear of bad publicity.

TVC 不仅薪酬较低，而且他们也无法获得相同的福利，例如丧假或易于获得的带薪休假。他们经常受到严格约束。总部位于美国的 莫迪斯 员工仅获得三个月的合同期，并且通常在合同期满时，才会被告知他们能否再获得三个月的合同延期。“在最后一刻才作出合同延期的决定是很常见的，”Wait 谈到她在公司的时候说。 “谷歌通常会提前提醒 莫迪斯 有一个延期，但莫迪斯却未能及时通知员工合同能够延期，这太让员工失望了。”

Not only are the TVCs paid less, they also don’t get access to the same benefits, like bereavement days or easily accessible paid time off. And they are often kept on a short leash. US-based Modis employees are only given three month contracts, and are usually told at the very end of the contract whether they are getting another three month extension. “It was very common for contract extension decisions to come through at the last minute,” Wait said of her time at the company. “Google typically would alert Modis of an extension well in advance, but it was Modis who failed its workers when alerting employees of extensions.”

有一天，Wait 和一位同事共进午餐，他告诉Wait这是他在这里的最后一天，因为没有任何人通知他关于合同延期的事。 “同一天，他发现合同又延长了三个月，他们只是忘了告诉他，”她说。

One day, Wait was having lunch with a coworker who told her it was his last day because no one had said anything about an extension. “That same day, it was found out that his contract was extended another three months, and that they just forgot to tell him,” she said.

如果莫迪斯承包商能够在数月的不确定性中坚持下去，他们的合同将在两年后结束，不会中止。他们至少在六个月内不得重新申请职位。许多人依靠失业救济金，以及他们每小时 15 美元的合同中积攒的微薄积蓄来维持生计。让政府补贴谷歌的员工是一个残酷的讽刺，因为该公司经常来到美国各地陷入困境的社区，并承诺进行大量投资而获得丰厚的税收优惠。

If Modis contractors manage to cling on through months of uncertainty, their contracts are terminated after two years, without fail. They are not allowed to reapply for a position for at least six months. Many turn to unemployment benefits to get by, relying on what little savings they had managed to accrue on $15 an hour contracts with few benefits. Having the state subsidize Google’s workforce is a cruel irony, when the company often gets generous tax benefits for coming to struggling communities across the US, offering the promise of a large investment.

就业一直是社区接受数据中心提案的弱动力——与制造工厂相比，这些设施根本不需要很多人。 绝大多数工作机会是在第一年左右的施工阶段出现的，其中很多是州外的承包商。此外，DCD 了解到，由于部分改用预制模块化数据中心，谷歌已经成功将新数据中心工地的建设周期缩短了大约一半。尽管只有少数几个更长期的工作机会，谷歌告诉社区他们的技能高、薪水高，并且有谷歌工作标签的加持。

Jobs have always been a poor incentive for communities to accept data center proposals - the facilities simply don’t require many people compared to, say, a manufacturing plant. The vast majority of jobs come in the first year or so, during the construction phase, with a large number of those being out-of-state contractors. Plus, DCD understands, since switching to a partially prefabricated model, Google has managed to roughly halve the number of job hours at new data center construction sites. Still, of those few jobs that are more permanent, Google tells communities that they are high-skilled, well-paid, and bring the benefits of the search engine’s brand reputation.

作为交换，资金拮据的市议会、学校和县议会投票支持扩大税收减免。 这包括谷歌在俄亥俄州的 9750 万美元减税、内华达州的 2520 万美元、亚利桑那州的 1600 万美元和明尼苏达州的 1500 万美元等等。 许多类似的交易没有披露，包括谷歌从其蒙克斯角数据中心获得了数百万美元的减排量（事实上，它自己也不知道该设施使用了多少水）。

In exchange, cash-strapped city councils, schools, and county boards vote for expansive tax breaks. This includes $97.5 million in tax cuts for Google in Ohio, $25.2m in Nevada, $16m in Arizona, and $15m in Minnesota, to name but a few. Many similar deals are not disclosed, including how many millions Google receives in abatements for its Moncks Corner data center (nor, indeed, is it known how much water that facility uses).

作为一家自称组织和分享世界知识的公司，谷歌在秘密谈判这些交易，甚至使用空壳公司从当地规划团体中混淆其身份，直到获得激励措施。 “我们希望确保我们获得公平的市场定价，而不是获得谷歌的特殊定价，”一位公司高管在 2018 年告诉 DCD。

A company professing to organize and share the world’s knowledge, Google negotiates these deals in secret, even going so far as to obfuscate its identity from local planning groups using shell companies until incentives are secured. "We want to make sure that we're getting fair market pricing and we're not getting special Google pricing,” a company exec told DCD in 2018.

与此同时，谷歌公开表示了善意姿态——在校车上安装 Wi-Fi 并分发 Chromebook——运行自己操作系统的笔记本电脑。 “这很可笑，”一名谷歌员工说。除此之外，谷歌的就业政策实际上可能构成另一场公关活动——只不过不是针对当地社区、工人或消费者的。

At the same time, Google takes part in very public goodwill gestures - installing Wi-Fi on school buses and handing out Chromebooks - laptops running its own operating system. “It's comical,” a Google employee said. Alongside this, Google’s employment policies may actually constitute another public relations campaign - just not one aimed at local communities, workers, or consumers.

“科技公司的另一个真正重要的动机是，通过让更多的工人作为承包商，而不是作为谷歌的员工，他们不被视为财务报告中的员工，”加州大学伯克利分校劳工中心技术与工作项目首席研究员 Jessie HF Hammerling 告诉 DCD。谷歌被认为在其所有办公室和数据中心雇佣了大约 130,000-150,000名 TVC，但无人能完全确定这一数字。不管真实数字是多少，它都比谷歌全职员工的数字要多。“投资者关注的一个非常重要的财务指标是收入除以员工人数，它被用作公司生产力的指标。因此，您拥有的员工越少，您在纸面上的工作效率就越高，”Hammerling 说。

“Another really important motivation for tech companies is that by keeping more workers as contractors, and not as employees of Google, they aren't considered employees for the purposes of financial reporting,” UC Berkeley Labor Center lead researcher for the Technology and Work program, Jessie HF Hammerling, told DCD. Google is thought to employ around 130,000-150,000 TVCs across all of its offices and data centers, but no one is really sure. Whatever the true number, it is greater than that of full-time Google employees. “A really important financial metric that investors look at is revenue divided by headcount, which is used as an indicator of a company's productivity. So the fewer employees you have, the more productive you look on paper,” Hammerling said.

将工作转移给临时员工可能会给股东留下深刻印象，但这只是雾里看花。实际上，它会导致混乱和疑惑。一位培训 TVC 的谷歌数据中心员工说：“大约需要一个月的时间才能让一个从未做过这项工作的人达到基本水平。” “这个人需要大约一到两个月的时间才能对自己的工作能力充满信心，而不必多次询问。如果他们不走运，我们会在三个月内失去那个人，然后我们再次循环这个过程。 如果他们幸运的话，我们会让那个人再完成三个工作期限。

Shifting work to temporary staff may impress shareholders, but it’s just smoke and mirrors. In reality, it leads to chaos and confusion. “It takes about one month to bring someone who has never done this work before to a basic level,” said one Google data center employee who trains TVCs. “It takes about one to two months for that person to become confident in their abilities to perform the work without having to ask multiple times. If they’re unlucky, we lose that person in three months and we cycle the process again. If they are lucky, we cycle that person through three more terms of work.

“不过，最后，如果我们不让他们上场，我们做这一切是为了什么？”另一位同时担任 TVC 和 FTE 经理的 Google 员工表示，不断解雇合格的临时工是一种根本上存在缺陷的做法。“这绝对是愚蠢的，”他们说。“临时机构实际上在寻找非常热情或非常擅长这种工作的人方面做得不错。然后合同到期，所有这些人都消失了。”员工发现，整个过程很累人。“这只是我们不断训练新 TVC 的死循环。这没有任何意义。”Hammerling表示同意：“有很多理由认为外包成本很高。高营业额的成本，然后是承包商费用，这可能真的很可观，因为这些公司也在努力赚取利润。”

“At the end, though, if we don’t bring them on, what have we done all of this for?” Another Googler, a manager of both TVCs and FTEs, said that constantly letting qualified temps go was a fundamentally flawed approach. "It is absolutely stupid," they said. "The temp agencies actually do a decent job of finding people who are very passionate, or very skilled at this kind of work. And then the contract's up and all that goes out the window.” The whole process is exhausting, the employee found. "It's just a constant cycle of having new TVCs we need to train. It doesn't make sense." Hammerling agreed: “There's a lot of reason to think that there's a substantial cost to outsourcing. The cost of high turnover, and then the contractor fees, which can be really substantial, because these are companies that are also trying to make a profit.”

不一样的谷歌

A different Google

与 DCD 交谈的多位人士表示，两年多前，谷歌发生了一些变化。过去，谷歌曾鼓励过度劳累的临时员工在合同到期时被聘为全职员工。现在，无论出于何种原因，这种情况似乎不再发生了。谷歌和莫迪斯还没有向工人传达这一变化。非营利性国家就业法项目 (NELP) 的高级职员律师劳拉·帕丁 (Laura Padin) 说：“这具有误导性和欺骗性，他们实质上是在利用它来引诱人们从事具有晋升期望的工作。” “根据他们的说法，这可能是非法的，因为他们做出了虚假的承诺。”

A little over two years ago, something changed at Google, multiple people DCD spoke with said.In the past, Google has encouraged overworked temporary staff with the prospect of being taken on as full-time employees when their contracts came to a close. Now, for whatever reason, it seems that just doesn’t happen anymore. And Google and Modis haven’t communicated the change to the workers. "It's misleading and deceptive, they're essentially using it to lure people into jobs with an expectation of advancement," Laura Padin, senior staff attorney at the non-profit National Employment Law Project (NELP), said. "Depending on how they word it, it could be illegal, because they're making a false promise."

一位在改变之后开始工作的谷歌员工说：“在我和他们在一起的这段时间里，我还没有看到一个 TVC 被提升为 FTE。我在几年前听说过有这种情况。”一位同事补充说：“它搞砸了。但你正在与一家价值数万亿美元的公司打交道，他们会做这样卑鄙的事情并逃脱惩罚。谷歌逃脱的另一件事更加微妙。TVC 标签——临时工、供应商或承包商——暗示这些人是临时工。据我们采访的人说，实际并非如此。

A Googler that started after the change said: "In the time I have been with them, I have not seen one TVC promoted to FTE. I heard about it happening a number of years ago." A colleague added: "It's messed up. But you're dealing with a trillion-dollar corporation, and they get to do scummy stuff like that and get away with it." Another thing Google has gotten away with is more subtle. The label TVC - temp, vendor, or contractor - implies these people are temporary workers. Not so, according to those we spoke to.

“我知道孤独的感觉，你认为你是唯一一个有这个问题的人。感觉你在一个空旷的数据中心地板上，没有人在乎你。这太糟糕了。”

“I know what it feels like to be alone, to think that you're the only one who has that issue. To feel that you're on an empty data center floor, and nobody else cares. It's horrible.”

这些员工不仅从事与全职员工相同的工作，而且整个工作内容都交给了他们。特别是一个角色——一线数据中心技术员——现在几乎完全由 莫迪斯 TVC 担任。二线角色似乎是下一个。“我从来没有在没有 TVC 的数据中心工作过，而且它通常是劳动力的很大一部分，”谷歌的一名员工说。“他们不再雇用一线数据中心技术人员。这将是一个完全被临时工填补的角色。”

Not only are these staff doing the same work as full-timers, but whole areas of work have been handed over to them. One role in particular - Data Center Technician Level 1 - is now almost exclusively filled with Modis TVCs. Level 2 roles appear to be next. "Never have I ever been at a data center that didn't have TVCs, and it's usually a large portion of the workforce," a Google employee said. "They're not hiring L1 data center technicians anymore. That's going to be a role completely filled by temps."

这是谷歌长期员工在公司看到的更广泛转变的一部分。“特别是自从 [谷歌创始人] 拉里·佩奇和谢尔盖·布林离开后，似乎真的很认真地要做股东现在想要的事情。我们从甲骨文和沃尔玛等其他公司引进了高管。当时，一些人担心这会改变公司的文化，另一些人则对此嗤之以鼻。嗯，母鸡已经回家栖息，”他们说。

It’s part of a wider shift the long-term Google staffer has seen at the company. “Especially since [Google founders] Larry Page and Sergey Brin left, it really seriously seems to be about doing what shareholders want now. We brought in executives from other companies like Oracle and Walmart. At the time, some people were worried that it was going to change the culture at the company, others blew it off. Well, the hens have come home to roost," they said.

“文化正在发生变化。这肯定与我被录用时所在的地方不同。”谷歌员工和 TVC 都告诉我们，这些变化正变得越来越明显和具有破坏性，影响着运营质量。部分原因是内斗——他们内置于数据中心结构中。这些为支持 IT 设备而设计的建筑，里面装满了服务器，但哪一个是最基本的——技术，还是培育它的建筑？

“The culture is changing. It's certainly not the same place that it was when I got hired." The changes are getting more pronounced and disruptive, impacting the quality of operations, both Googlers and TVCs told us. Part of this is due to an internal tussle - which is built into the structure of data centers. These are buildings designed to support IT equipment, and filled with servers, but which is the most fundamental - the tech, or the building that nurtures it?

在整个数据中心领域，硬件和设施团队一直在争夺权力、预算和职位——尽管 Google 竭尽全力改写技术文档，但也无法改变。合并这两个团队的努力被证明是灾难性的。“那是一团糟，”另一位谷歌员工说，“设施方面比硬件方面得到了更大的提升，大多数经理都被安排到让他们两边跑的位置上，对一边或另一边发生的事情他们一无所知。”他们回忆道。“真是糟糕的日子。”

Right across the data center field, Hardware and Facilities teams have vied for power, budget, and positions - and for all its efforts to rewrite the book on technology, Google is no different. An effort to merge the two groups proved disastrous. "It was a mess,” another Googler said. “The Facilities side got boosted up further than the Hardware side, and most of the managers got placed into positions that had them running both sides with zero idea of what happened on one side or the other,” they remembered. “Bad days.”

2021 年 2 月，谷歌任命沃尔玛高管 Monique Picou 为其产品、技术战略和服务器运营负责人，负责改善这种情况。“当 Monique 开始工作时，她的想法是再次拆分小组，”这位 Google 员工说，“硬件团队实际上对此感到高兴，我们很高兴能够以公平的方式重新开始我们的工作。然后变化再次发生，接着又再次发生。”

In February 2021, Google appointed Walmart executive Monique Picou as its head of Product, Tech Strategy, & Server Operations, with a mandate of improving the situation. "When Monique started, her idea was to split the groups again,” the Googler said. “Hardware was actually happy about this, and we were excited to get back to doing our job with a fair shake. Then the change got changed again. Then again.”

如果技术职位被降级为临时职位，这可能是楼宇设施经理和 IT经理之间的地盘争夺战的后果——这对技术人员来说可能是个坏消息。

If tech roles get demoted to become temporary positions, this could be fallout from the turf wars between the building managers and the IT - and it could be bad news for technicians.

正如一位联系人所说：“我们曾经被告知所有一线和 二线职位永远不会完全接受 TVC。突然，我们在这里，看着这两个级别都被转移到仅限 TVC 的角色。我们被微妙的方式告知，让我们更新简历，并不断寻找新的工作机会，让我们离开数据中心，因为“更大的变化即将到来”。我们的信念完全消失了。”许多人认为，随着谷歌朝着更标准的美国企业形象发展，谷歌现在已经将短期利润置于宏大愿景之上，接受了削减成本，并削减了曾经崇高的理想。

As one contact put it: “We were once told all Level 1 and 2 positions would never be fully TVC'd. Suddenly, here we are, watching both of those levels being moved to TVC-only roles. We were told, in subtle ways, to keep our resumes up to date and constantly watch for new job opportunities that got us out of the data centers as ‘bigger changes are coming.’ Our faith is completely gone.” Many feel Google has now prioritized shorter-term profits over grand visions, embraced cost-cutting, and pared-back once-lofty ideals as it evolves towards a more standard embodiment of corporate America.

这已在财务决策中得到体现，例如减少支付 TVC 的费用并减少他们的福利，这往往使他们的生活变得艰难。但一些人告诉 DCD，这也导致了明显的抠门和不公。“食品团队会进来准备点心，”一位谷歌员工说。“然后无论出于何种原因，它只适用于谷歌员工，而 TVC 不能吃饼干或其他零食。有很多这样的事情，我不知道为什么。”正是这种不必要的不友善成为Shannon Wait等到的最后一根稻草。

That has been expressed in financial decisions, like paying TVCs less and reducing their benefits, often making their lives a struggle. But it has also led to apparent pettiness and cruelty, some told DCD. “The food team would come in and prepare a snack,” a Googler said. “And then for whatever reason, it'd be only for Googlers, and TVCs couldn’t have the cookie or other treats. There’s lots of things like that, I don’t know why.”It was this unnecessary unkindness that proved the final straw for Shannon Wait.

谷歌蒙克斯角数据中心

突破点

Breaking point

“在 2021 年 1 月的最后一天，我拿到了公司给我的这个密封水杯，”她说。橡胶密封圈脱落了，Wait 很快了解到，她的一个朋友身上也发生了同样的事——一个碰巧是 Google 员工的朋友。两人去找最初给他们水杯的谷歌员工。“有人告诉我，我的朋友可以换一个，因为她是 Google 员工，但承包商员工没有替换品。我认为这搞砸了，因为她整天坐在会议室里，而我坐在地板上，坐在30摄氏度的热通道中，从机架上拉出沉重的托盘。“这就像一记耳光，但我想算了。”然后，莫迪斯 管理层向 TVC 发送了一封电子邮件，告诉他们不要向 Google 员工索要任何东西，并强调他们仅会得到一个水杯。“我被那封电子邮件激怒了，它非常有辱人格和居高临下。”

“At the very end of January 2021, I had this seal-proof water bottle that was given to me by the company,” she said. The rubber cap broke off, something Wait soon learned had also happened to a friend of hers - a friend who happened to be a Googler. The two went to the Google employee that had given them the bottles in the first place. “I was told that my friend could have one because she is a Googler but that contractors do not get a replacement. I thought that's messed up, because she is sitting in a conference room all day and I am on the floor in 85-degree heat swapping bat boxes and pulling out heavy trays from the breadboard. “It was like a slap in the face, but I let it go.” Then Modis management sent around an email to TVCs telling them not to ask Googlers for anything, and emphasizing that they only ever get one water bottle. “I was outraged by that email, it was very demeaning and condescending.”

杯子事件并不是发生在 Google 数据中心的 Wait 或她的朋友们身上最糟糕的事情。有几次，经理告诉她不要与其他员工讨论薪水——这在美国是非法的。在其他情况下，该公司在新冠疫情奖金方面误导了 TVC。但水杯是多年来日益增长的不满和失望的结果。

The bottle episode was not the worst thing to happen to Wait or her friends at the Google data center. On several occasions, managers told her not to discuss salaries with other staff - something that is illegal in the US. On other occasions, the company misled TVCs about pandemic bonuses.But the water bottle was the culmination of years of growing dissatisfaction and disappointment.

“我不知道，我已经达到了极限。我回家了，我写了这篇简短的 Facebook 帖子，”她说。在其中，她表达了她对这一事件的愤怒和悲伤。跟帖反应不一，一些谷歌员工和 TVC 表示同意，而另一些人则说她应该为自己有工作而高兴。但第二天，她没法高兴了。“保安在数据中心楼层接近我，把我带进会议室，四名莫迪斯项目经理全都在视频会议屏幕上，”她说。“他们说我发布在 Facebook 上的某些东西对谷歌来说是一个安全风险，我需要被带走并停薪，直到他们调查清楚我是否违反了保密协议。”

“I don't know, I hit my limit. I went home, I wrote this little Facebook post,” she said. In it, she expressed her anger and her sadness about the incident. The response was mixed, with some Googlers and TVCs agreeing, while others said she should just be happy that she had a job.The next day, she didn’t. “Security approached me on the data center floor and took me into a conference room where all four of the Modis program managers were on a video chat screen,” she said. “And they said that something on my Facebook was a security risk to Google, and that I needed to be escorted off and suspended with pay until they investigated and found out whether I broke my NDA or not.”

对于 Wait 来说，这是一个不幸的情况，但事实证明，对于谷歌和 莫迪斯 来说同样不幸。碰巧的是，她已经与刚刚起步的 Alphabet 工人工会（Alphabet Workers Union）的某个人安排了一次会议——这是一个新机构，旨在为谷歌的所有员工争取更好的条件。Wait打电话取消了会议，她原计划在会议上讨论蒙克斯角数据中心的条件。“我告诉他们‘我不能参加会议，我想我刚刚被解雇了，’”她回忆道。“我一告诉他们，他们很快就让我联系了 AWU 的母公司“美国通信工人”的律师。”

It was an unfortunate situation for Wait, but it turned out to be equally unfortunate for Google and Modis. It just so happened that she already had a meeting arranged with someone from the fledgling Alphabet Workers Union - a new body set up to push for better conditions for all workers at Google. Wait called to cancel the meeting, in which she’d planned to discuss conditions at Moncks .“I told them ‘I can't do the meeting, I think I just got fired,’” she recollected. “And as soon as I told them that, they quickly had me in touch with the attorneys at Communications Workers of America, the parent of AWU.”

工会告诉 Wait，她在 Facebook 上所说的是受保护的活动。“他们认为问题没有我想象的那么小。我从他们那里感受到的团结程度很难解释，我希望在谷歌数据中心工作的每个人，无论他们为哪家公司工作，都能感受到同样的集体感，”她说。“我知道孤独的感觉，你认为你是唯一一个有这个问题的人。感觉你在一个空旷的数据中心地板上，没有人在乎你。这太糟糕了。”

The union told Wait that what she had said on Facebook was protected activity. “They didn't think the issue was as small as I thought it was. And the level of solidarity that I felt from them is so hard to explain that I want everyone who works at a Google data center, no matter what company they work for, to feel that same sense of solidarity,” she said. “I know what it feels like to be alone, to think that you're the only one who has that issue. To feel that you're on an empty data center floor, and nobody else cares. It's horrible.”

工会向国家劳工关系委员会 (NLRB) 提出了不公平劳工行为投诉，并很快赢得了官司。谷歌和莫迪斯不得不恢复等待，并在数据中心周围张贴通知说不会惩罚她，员工可以讨论工资和工会。这场胜利是历史性的。但这也是转瞬即逝的。Wait的合同接近两年期限，所以她离开了——她不想回去和他们在一起，他们是如此的强大。”

The union filed an Unfair Labor Practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and soon won the case. Google and Modis had to reinstate Wait, and post notices around the data center saying that it would not punish her, and that staffers could discuss salaries and unionization. The victory was historic. But it was also fleeting. Wait’s contract was near its two-year limit, so she left - and she doesn’t want to go back.“TVCs are scared and feel replaceable all of the time. Together, they're so strong.”

一些通知可能张贴在了蒙克斯角，但经理们告诉 Wait 和其他人不要讨论薪酬问题的做法违反了法律。蒙特斯角没有人受到惩罚。“有人升职了，”她说。“这就是公司奖励不良行为的方式；这就是美国奖励腐败的方式。我知道这四位项目经理仍在以同样方式与其他工人交谈。”

A few notices may have been posted in Moncks Corner, but managers had broken the law by telling Wait and others not to discuss pay. None of them were punished. Moncks Corner. “Somebody got promoted,” she said. “This is how the company rewards bad behavior; it is how America rewards corruption. I know that these four program managers are still talking like this to other workers.”

另外两个 莫迪斯 TVC 告诉 DCD，他们或与他们一起工作的人被告知不要讨论自 NLRB 和解以来的薪水。一位谷歌员工表示，他“经常”听说这种情况。TVC 被告知不要与 FTE 谈论手头工作以外的任何事情也是标准做法，包括被告知不要联系谷歌 HR 或举报热线（谷歌员工将这两者描述为“无论如何都没有帮助” ）。

Two other Modis TVCs told DCD that they, or someone working alongside them, have been told not to discuss salaries since the NLRB settlement. One Googler said that he had heard it happen “often.” It is also standard practice for TVCs to be told not to talk to FTEs about any matter beyond the job at hand, including being told not to contact Google HR or whistleblower lines (both of which were described as "unhelpful, anyway" by the Googler).

一位 FTE 技术人员告诉 DCD：“工会化是在低声中谈论的，而且不会妨碍经理的谈话。我们在我的网站上有一些人正在努力争取那里的 TVC 甚至 FTE，但我们必须对此保持沉默，以免……你知道的，对吗？”另一位说：“我认为谷歌在本地化那个[案例]的影响方面做得非常好，特别是他们必须公开发布的文件说我们不允许告诉你你不能讨论你的工资。“令人失望的是，它只发布在蒙克斯角，我希望看到这些信息发布在他们所有的数据中心。”

An FTE technician told DCD: “Unionizing is talked about in hushed tones and out of the way conversation that is never near a manager. We have a few at my site who are trying to fight for the TVCs and even FTEs there, but we have to be quiet about it lest, well... you know how it goes, right?” Another said: “I think Google did a really good job of localizing the impact of that [case], especially with the documents that they had to post publicly saying we're not allowed to tell you that you can't discuss your pay. “It was disappointing that that only got posted in Moncks Corner, I would have liked to have seen those messages posted at all of their sites.”

这名员工点名了一位被指控违反劳动法的莫迪斯高级经理（DCD 没有透露他们的身份，因为我们无法独立核实这一事件）。“[他们]仍在那里工作的事实令人难以置信，”谷歌员工说。[他们]违反了法律，甚至没有得到一记耳光。令人沮丧的是，公司可以违反任何法律，只要不惹太多麻烦，就会被遗忘。”

The employee called out a specific senior Modis manager accused of breaking labor laws (DCD is not disclosing their identity, as we were not able to independently verify the incident). “The fact that [they are] still working there is mind-boggling,” the Googler said. “[They] broke the law and didn't even get a slap on the wrist. It's frustrating, the company can break whatever law, and as long as it doesn't stir up too much trouble, it just gets forgotten about.”

NELP 的帕丁说，软弱的劳动法意味着即使是重复的违规行为也不太可能受到处罚。“你能得到的基本上最多就是复职和雇主通知，因此，那种处罚无法阻止雇主多次违反法律。“惩罚是如此之轻，以至于许多雇主违反劳动法几乎就像做生意的成本一样。” 然而，等待仍然充满希望：“我找到另一个让我想起自己的工人，他们想大声说出来，这只是时间问题。有人不再害怕站出来只是时间问题，谷歌和莫迪斯就将再次陷入困境。”

Weak labor laws mean that even repeated infractions are unlikely to amount to much, NELP’s Padin said. “The most you can get is essentially reinstatement and an employer notice, so it’s not the type of penalty that prevents employers from violating the law multiple times. “The penalties are so minimal that many employers violate labor law almost like a cost of doing business.”Wait, however, remains hopeful: “It's only a matter of time till I find another worker who reminds me of myself in the way that they want to speak up. It's only a matter of time before someone is not scared anymore, and Google and Modis will get in trouble again.”

一家包容的公司

An inclusive company

每天上班，Phares Lee 都会经过一个大牌子，上面写着“不要作恶”。“我必须越过那个地方，进入一个我不认同的更衣室。这绝对令人痛心。”作为一名变性人，Lee 在向承包商 G4S 申请安保工作时曾公开表示他正在转型，并被告知不仅完全没问题，而且客户非常公开地表示自己是“LGBTQ+ 社区的支持者”。这种支持并没有转化为 G4S 培训设施，Lee 被迫使用女厕所，谷歌数据中心也一样。Lee 只有一个简单的要求：更改他的姓名牌上的“死名”或出生名。G4S说不行。

Every day he went to work, Phares Lee would walk past a large sign saying 'Don't be Evil.' "I'd have to go past that and into a bathroom I didn't identify with. It was absolutely heartbreaking." A transgender man, Lee had been open about the fact that he was transitioning when he applied for a security job with contractor G4S, and was told that not only was it perfectly fine, but that the client was very publicly “a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.” That support did not translate to the G4S training facility, where Lee was forced to use the female toilet, nor to the Google data center - where Lee had just one simple request: to change his name badge from his “deadname” - or birth name. G4S said no.

“所以在那里工作，情况变得越来越糟。会有实习生进来，他们会问‘你的真名是什么？’‘好吧，你不是一个真正的人，’‘等等，等等 ”我会尽快关闭它们。如果情况变得更糟，我会把它交给主管。但什么也没做。“我一遍又一遍地报告这件事。不只是我，至少还有另外两个处于安全状态的变性人正在经历非常相似的情况。甚至还有一位顺性别的年轻女士，她的发型真的很短，因此受到了很多对变性者恐惧的评论。” 关于螺旋事件，四人一起写了一封电子邮件给管理层。“而且，再一次，什么也没做。其中一个跨性别者最终离开并去寻找一份不同的工作，因为这对他们来说不是一个安全的环境。”

"And so working there, it just got progressively worse and worse. There would be trainees that would come in and they'd ask ‘what's your real name?’ ‘Well, you're not a real guy,’ ‘blah, blah.’ I would try to shut them down as quickly as possible. And if it got worse, then I’d take it to a supervisor. But nothing was ever getting done. “I was reporting this over and over. It wasn't just me, there were at least two other transgender individuals on security who are going through very similar situations. There was even one cisgender young lady whose haircut is really short, and was getting a lot of transphobic comments just because of that.” Together, all four wrote an email to management about the spiraling incidents. “And, again, nothing was ever done. One of those transgender individuals ended up leaving and going to find a different job, because it just wasn't a safe environment for them."

Lee 并不打算在数据中心待太久——他曾作为美国海军陆战队员接受过培训，但因特朗普政府的跨性别禁令而离开。Lee的计划是在禁令被废除后重新入伍。“那个时间一直被推迟。所以现在我们已经进入这个流程三年了，”他说。他仍然在 G4S 工作，帮助保护谷歌数据中心的安全。谷歌对跨性别员工的政策并不完美，但它仍然为那些过渡、更名或遭受歧视的人提供特定的系统和资源。毫不奇怪，大多数都不适用于像 Lee 这样的 TVC。

Lee did not plan to stay at the data center long - he had been training as a US Marine, but left with the Trump Administration's transgender ban. The plan was to re-enlist when the ban was repealed. "That time just kept getting pushed out. So now we're three years into this process," he said. He still works at G4S, helping keep a Google data center secure. Google's policies for trans employees are by no means perfect, but it still has specific systems and resources for those transitioning, changing names, or experiencing discrimination. Unsurprisingly, most are not available for TVCs like Lee.

和 Wait 一样，Lee 发现谷歌只是在他公布性取向时才做出反应，这也是在 Alphabet 工人工会的帮助下。在这一点上，他们允许我访问员工资源组。但同样，这一切都是以自我为中心的。“这不是我这样做的原因。尽管我热爱我的工作，但这并不是我打算在我的余生中做的事情，我想在这家公司做出改变，这也是为了后来的变性人士。”

Like Wait, Lee found that Google only reacted when he went public, again with the help of the Alphabet Workers Union."A lot of the changes that have been made are very specific to me. They fixed my badge as much as they can at this point, and they've given me access to the Employee Resource Groups. But again, it's all very me-centric.“That's not why I did this. As much as I love my job, it isn't what I plan on doing for the rest of my life, and I want to make a difference in this company for the transgender individuals that are going to come after me."

公开呼吁雇主不是一个可扩展的解决方案。转型可能已经够难了，更不用说在公众眼中这样做了，同时还要冒着失去工作的风险。“对我来说，公开演讲非常非常困难，我对社交感到非常焦虑，”Lee说。“但是因为我们生活的社会，因为在这个时代作为变性人生活是如此困难，我不得不为那些不能发声的人代言。“我有幸住在一个足够稳定的地方，在那里我有一套住所，我不必担心恐跨性别的房东，而且我有足够的钱来支付我的账单。但并不是每个跨性别者都有这些特权，这让我处于一个足够安全的位置，可以代表他人公开发言。”

Publicly calling out an employer is not a scalable solution. Transitioning can be hard enough, let alone doing it in the public eye, while risking one’s job. "It's very, very difficult for me to speak publicly, I get very socially anxious," Lee said. "But because of the society we live in, and because it's so difficult to live as a transgender person in this day and age, I have to say something for those who can't. “I am privileged to be in a stable enough place where I have a roof over my head, and I don't have to worry about a transphobic landlord, and I have enough money to pay my bills. But not every transgender person has those privileges, and this puts me in a safe enough position to speak publicly on behalf of others.”

即便如此，Lee和他的丈夫也需要花费大量时间讨论是否值得冒险公开性取向。“我们谈到了我们的选择——我们的财政已经很紧张了，尤其是在这个经济环境中。”G4S 合同比 莫迪斯 合同更长，限制更少，提供了一定程度的工作保障。但是还有其他方法可以冻结那些被认为是麻烦制造者的员工合同。“让你搬到离你家 50 英里以外的另一个数据中心工作，”Lee 说，“或者给你一个无法完成的工作进度计划，因为你有孩子或其他家庭情况，实际上你无法完成这些工作，尽管事实上你已经告诉他们好几次了，这行不通。“有些人不得不面对这个问题。而且，通常他们会被迫辞职，因为他们无法完成交办的工作。这不是公开的报复，但确实发生了。”

Even then, it required Lee and his husband to spend a considerable amount of time discussing whether it was worth the risk of going public. “We talked about what our options were - our finances were already tight, especially in this economy.” G4S contracts are longer and less restrictive than Modis ones, offering some level of job security. But there are other ways they can freeze out those deemed troublemakers. "You can be moved to a different site that might be 50 miles away from your house,” Lee said. “Or you are given a new schedule that you cannot physically make work because you have kids or whatever home situation, despite the fact that you’ve told them several times that it can’t work. “There have been officers that have had to deal with that. And, oftentimes, they are forced to quit because they can’t make it work. It’s not an overt retaliation, but it does happen."

权力在哪里

Where the power lies

工人虐待、两层架构和承包商滥用不是谷歌特有的问题。虽然关键是要让一家自称是一种不同的、更仁慈的资本主义形式的公司承担责任，但重要的是要了解这些做法现在在多大程度上是美国劳动力格局的共同组成部分。NELP 的帕丁说：“这就是我们所说的分裂的工作，指的是这种越来越多的企业将工作外包出去的做法。” “我们在这里看到的共同点是，这些系统实际上是在降低工资和工作条件，同时也允许公司与工人保持距离，并避免对其创造的条件负责。”合同外包在科技行业似乎相当普遍。”

Worker mistreatment, two-tiered systems, and contractor abuse are not Google-specific problems. While it is key to hold a company that has pitched itself as a different, more benevolent form of capitalism to account, it is important to understand how much these practices are now a common part of the US labor landscape."It's what we call fissured work, this increasing corporate practice of contracting out work," NELP's Padin said. "What we see as the commonality here is that these systems are really about degrading wages and working conditions, while also allowing the company to distance itself from its workers, and avoid accountability for the conditions that it creates."It is very widespread - contracting out in the tech industry seems pretty enormous.”

科技行业的大多数人都将 TVC 用于各种工作；不仅针对餐饮和安保等非核心职位，而且针对与 FTE 职位基本相同的职位。2000 年，微软成功地被长期临时工起诉，他们在声称自己基本上已成为“约定俗成”永久雇员后赢得了 1 亿美元赔偿。人们认为，对莫迪斯承包商的任意两年、六个月的休假限制完全是为了避免对谷歌提起类似的案件。“我认为这一切都归结于这样一个事实，即他们真的很享受能够逃避作为雇主的责任，”NELP 的帕丁说。“公司经常将最不受欢迎的工作、更艰苦的工作外包出去，因此他们基本上可以否认对这些工作条件负有责任。”

Most in the tech sector use TVCs for all sorts of jobs; not just for non-core roles like catering and security, but for roles fundamentally identical to FTE roles.Microsoft was successfully sued by long-term temporary workers in 2000, who won $100m after claiming they had essentially become "common law'' permanent employees. It is thought that the arbitrary two-year-on, six-month-off limit for Modis contractors is entirely aimed at avoiding a similar case being brought against Google. "I think it all comes down to the fact that they really enjoy being able to evade responsibility as an employer," NELP's Padin said. "Companies are often contracting out the most undesirable work, the harder work, and so they can essentially disclaim responsibility for those job conditions."

谷歌绝非孤军奋战。但公司的情况可能正在发生变化。传统上，劳工运动一直受到离间工人的成功努力的破坏：无论是在黑人和白人雇员、家庭和移民劳动力之间，还是在全职和承包商工人之间。这在谷歌存在的大部分时间里都奏效了，但越来越多的证据表明谷歌员工愿意为 TVC 的权利而战。在就此事引发抗议和请愿之后，Alphabet 工人工会于今年发起，共同推动 TVC 的薪酬平等，并呼吁公司雇用他们为 FTE。全公司数百名谷歌员工加入了呼吁。“我认为这是一个巨大的变化，”NELP 的帕丁说。“我认为工会所说的我们，实际包括为这家公司工作的所有人，无论你是直接雇员、承包商还是临时工，这是一个重要的转变。老实说，我以前从未见过这种情况。”

Google is far from alone in deciding to pursue this strategy. But the situation at the company might be changing. Labor movements have traditionally been undermined by successful efforts to split workers up: be it between black and white employees, domestic and immigrant labor forces, and full time and contractor workers. This has worked at Google for much of its existence, but there is growing evidence that Google employees are willing to fight for the rights of TVCs. Following protests and petitions on the matter, the Alphabet Workers Union launched this year with a concerted push for pay parity for TVCs, and a call to hire them on as FTEs. Hundreds of Google employees across the company have joined the appeal. “I think that is a sea change,” NELP’s Laura Padin said. “I think a union saying we are inclusive of all people working for this company, regardless of if you're classified as a direct employee, or contractor or temp is an important shift. I have not seen that before, honestly.”

“老实说，我对在谷歌感到越来越不自豪。”

"Honestly, I am feeling less and less proud to be at Google."

即使是独自一人，TVC 的力量也比他们想象的要大。“TVC 很害怕，并且一直觉得自己随时可能被替换掉，”Wait 说。“在一起，他们是如此强大。” 由于背景和就业调查，至少需要两周时间TVC才能加入数据中心。让他们加快速度还需要数周时间。“所以，如果每个 TVC 都罢工，只是如果，他们在谷歌的一个月或更长时间会很艰难，”她沉思道。“想象一下，如果这是在 11 月或 12 月发生的事情，当时黑色星期五和圣诞节购物正在发生，每个人都在上网。我的意思是，如果 TVC 决定采取行动，那将是他们采取行动的绝佳时机。”

Even alone, TVCs have more power than they might think. “TVCs are scared and feel replaceable all of the time,” Wait said. “Together, they're so strong.”Due to background and employment checks, it takes at least two weeks to onboard a data center TVC. It takes weeks more to get them up to speed. “So, if every TVC went on strike, just as a hypothetical, they would have a hard time for a month or more at Google,” she mused. “Imagine if this is something that happened in November or December when Black Friday and Christmas shopping is happening and everybody is going online. I mean, that would be a really great time for TVCs to act, should they ever decide to.”

没有那么极端的选择，包括“怠工”——一种员工仍在工作但试图降低生产力或效率的工业行动。谷歌员工也可以提供帮助。“谷歌管理层和谷歌员工也可以尽自己的一份力量来为我们辩护，他们可以说他们已经受够了，并希望人们被聘为数据中心一线技术人员。这将使数据中心 [生产力] 变得更好，这些人的生活质量也会变得更好。”最终，这种变化可能对谷歌最有利。几位长期在数据中心工作的FTE员工对公司的发展方向表示精疲力竭和失望，许多人考虑辞职，或对他们不再感到满意的工作减少个人投资。

There are less extreme options, including ‘slowdown’ - an industrial action in which employees are still at work, but seek to reduce productivity or efficiency. Googlers can help too. “Google management and Google employees can do their part to advocate for us as well, they could say they’ve had enough of this and want people hired as data center technician L1s. It would make the data center [productivity] better, and the quality of life for those people would get so much better.” Ultimately, such change could prove most beneficial for Google. Several long-time FTE data center employees expressed exhaustion and disillusionment at the direction of the company, with many considering quitting, or reducing their personal investment in a job they no longer feel comfortable with.

“老实说，我对在谷歌感到越来越不自豪，”有人说。另一位回忆起他们加入谷歌的原因。“我记得在 14 岁的时候，有一部关于谷歌的纪录片，我想在他们的数据中心工作该有多酷，”他们说。“这真的是我梦寐以求的工作。我得到了我梦寐以求的工作，但它有点糟糕。”该员工表示，他们喜欢在数据中心工作，但表示“所有正在发生变化的事情都变得非常糟糕，尤其是他们对待人的方式。”他们补充说：“我越来越难证明在这里工作的合理性了。”

"Honestly, I am feeling less and less proud to be at Google," one said.Another recalled why they joined Google. "I remember being 14 years old, and there was this documentary on Google, and I thought about how cool it would be to work in their data center," they said. "It was really my dream job. And I got my dream job, and it kind of sucks." The employee said that they loved working at the data center, but said that "all the things that are changing are getting pretty shitty, especially the way they treat people."They added: "I'm having a harder and harder time justifying working here."